Dozens of Countries Are Deploying Propaganda on Social Media – Futurism

Global Effort

At least 70 countries around the world have sponsored political disinformation campaigns, spreading propaganda across social media and other outlets, according to a new bombshell investigation.

Of those countries, 56 organized targeted propaganda campaigns on Facebook, The New York Times reports. If we want to wipe social media clean of fake news and propaganda, itll be an uphill battle when powerful governments are the culprits.

The inclination to shape public opinion through AI algorithms, big data, and other automated tools is becoming ubiquitous, according to the report, which was published Thursday by Oxford University researchers.

The researchers found thatpolitical parties or federal governmentsin 70 countries have used social media to spread propaganda and political disinformation at one point or another. In 2018, 48 countries did.

Most troubling, the Oxford researchers told the NYT, is the pace at which these propaganda techniques have proliferated around the world.

Social media technology tends to empower propaganda and disinformation in really new ways, reporter co-author Samantha Bradshaw of the Oxford Internet Institute told the NYT.

That means that Facebooks attempts to quell disinformation by focusing on microtargeted advertisements will only address one part of the problem. Facebooks entire structure could be facilitating the spread of misinformation so stronger actions may be needed to keep it down.

READ MORE: At Least 70 Countries Have Had Disinformation Campaigns, Study Finds [The New York Times]

More on disinformation campaigns: Ukraine-Run Pro-Trump Facebook Page Has Over 1.1 Million Followers

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Dozens of Countries Are Deploying Propaganda on Social Media - Futurism